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拍品专文
This oak and ebony dressing-table is almost certainly one of two supplied by George Bullock (d. 1818) in 1815 as part of the extensive commission to furnish Longwood House, St. Helena, during the exile of Napoleon I. Recorded in George Bullock's Account for Furniture Supplied to St Helena, 1816, it is probably either the 'Dressing table in Pier' supplied for Napoleon's Bedroom or the 'Dressing Table', for his Dressing Room, each at a cost of £28 10s. (M. Levy, 'Napoleon in Exile, The Houses and Furniture supplied by the British Government for the Emperor and his Entourage on St Helena', Furniture History Society, vol. XXXIV, 1998, p. 113 and 114). Other dressing-tables listed were mahogany and valued at £7 7s each, significantly less than the oak examples.
Although the present dressing-table is not labelled, the other has a paper mounted on card label above the central drawer, 'This console table was used for the toilet of the Emperor Napoleon in his bedroom at St. Helena during his exile [?] (F) [?] Count de las Casas' plan of Longwood House'; sold Christie's London, 27 November 2003, lot 195 (£65,725 inc. premium) (illustrated ibid., p. 21, fig. 22). That table was assigned to Sir Hudson Lowe after Napoleon's death; it was registered in the Inventory of Stores belonging to the Longwood Establishment, May 1821, in General Montholon's Bedroom (ibid., p.155). However, although most of the furniture owned subsequently by Lowe is labelled, there is no evidence to suggest that furniture was systematically labelled on the island, and furthermore the present example is not recorded in the inventory drawn up on behalf of the British Government. Levy notes that the latter, 'identically designed, but unprovenanced [is] in a European private collection' (ibid., p. 92).
Although the present dressing-table is not labelled, the other has a paper mounted on card label above the central drawer, 'This console table was used for the toilet of the Emperor Napoleon in his bedroom at St. Helena during his exile [?] (F) [?] Count de las Casas' plan of Longwood House'; sold Christie's London, 27 November 2003, lot 195 (£65,725 inc. premium) (illustrated ibid., p. 21, fig. 22). That table was assigned to Sir Hudson Lowe after Napoleon's death; it was registered in the Inventory of Stores belonging to the Longwood Establishment, May 1821, in General Montholon's Bedroom (ibid., p.155). However, although most of the furniture owned subsequently by Lowe is labelled, there is no evidence to suggest that furniture was systematically labelled on the island, and furthermore the present example is not recorded in the inventory drawn up on behalf of the British Government. Levy notes that the latter, 'identically designed, but unprovenanced [is] in a European private collection' (ibid., p. 92).